August 31, 2007

One week down, 35 to go! That's right, the school year is 36 weeks long. 18 weeks per semester. But if things continue at this rate, I won't mind it at all, I could teach it for 52 weeks and it wouldn't bother me one bit. So far, I have a great bunch of kids. Not one bit of trouble, yet. We'll see next week once they start to feel more comfortable if they try to push a little more. I did notice that in one of my honors classes I have a students who failed social studies last year. I found that strange how a student can fail a class and then get recommended to the honors level of the next class. When I discovered this today I planned on emailing his guidance counselor in order to get him into the correct class so that he doesn't get in over his head and fail when he could be in a class more his level and pass. But I decided to wait until the results of today's test. Lo! and behold he got only one question wrong. So I figure, what the heck, maybe he will do just fine in the honors class.

Joe kinda dared me to blog about this today, I am feeling kinda snarky (thanks for the word Rebecca) tonight, so I will. Hi Joe, I know you are reading! Here is his email:

The stupidest quote I have ever heard a presidential candidate make:

"I'm going to be honest with you -- I don't know a lot about Cuba's healthcare system," John Edwards, D-N.C., said at an event in Oskaloosa, Iowa. "Is it a government-run system?" - Aug 17, 2007

Thank GOD he is actually from South Carolina... I still can't believe my home state elected this no show as Senator for 6 years. I am actually glad he didn't show up for work... and you think Bush is stupid? That is freaking moronic...

“Doctor Moore, Doctor Michael Moore, please assist Senator John Edwards with his talking points, STAT!”

Just thought you would find this eye opening and funny!

Hope you are having a great day!

OK, now I am no big supporter or fan of John Edwards, I have never seen a Michael Moore movie (some people will surprised to hear that), and I too am no expert on the healthcare system of Cuba. In fact, my initial reaction to Cuba having a healthcare system is "and where do they have the money for that?" I mean seriously, they can't possibly sell enough cigars in order to pay for the entire country to have healthcare. But, I guess if you factor in the rent the US pays for its base in Guantanamo, then maybe. But before I go any further, I want to clear a couple of things up:

1) Nobody can compare to George Bush when it comes to stupidity. He had trouble with the word "mud" during his speech this week on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
2) As far as no shows are concerned, Bush is #1 on that list. Has he actually reported to duty to the air national guard yet? Wasn't he on vacation more during his first year of the "Presidency" than any other (and his first year's vacations were cut short by 9/11)? You know, maybe we all would be a little better off if he stayed on vacation (with his brain, where ever that may be).

Today's Headline:

Embattled Sen. Craig to Resign: Report (Reuters)
Where do we go from here? Hard to say, did he do it? Good question. What about this alleged entrapment? If it was entrapment then he was doing something he should have been doing, even if he was coerced into it by a law enforcement agent. So where does that get us? Oh yeah, another politician prone to hypocrisy. This conservative republican has voted against measures to expand homosexuals rights. And he was entrapped into a homosexual act. I can't be sure, but does this qualify as "waffling"? "Flip-flopping"? It seems that democrats and liberals aren't the only ones who can be accused of changing their mind. (We know Bush hasn't changed his mind for two reasons: 1) he is too stubborn, 2) you need a mind in order to change it)

Good night, and good luck.

August 29, 2007

I want to thank the few of you who read my blog each day. If you are not already doing so, subscribe. You can do so either by email or as rss feed. Use the links on the left to set it up.

Well, it has been two years since hurricane Katrina. And what have we seen? Inefficiency and waste. For all the billions of dollars that have been spent on the victims, much of it is caught up in red tape due to the private firm in Virginia that is handling the direction of these funds to the victims. I wouldn't be surprised if this firm wasn't somehow owned or run by a buddy of good ol' GWBush.

Three days down of this school year so far. I can already tell in one of my classes who will be the success stories, and who will repeat. We had a quiz today on a small amount of information that we went over in class, did a match and meet activity as well. In fact, right before the quiz began, I asked the questions that would be on the quiz. In other words, the students had to try and fail or be half asleep when the quiz was taken in order to fail. And lo! and behold, I had a few who BOMBED! I don't understand. But all in all it seems that this will be a good semester. The students all seem really nice so that is a treat. Now if I can keep my big mouth shut so I don't get into any trouble with the principal, everything should go well.

I am changing my philosophy this year, well, at least this semester. In the past I was more dedicated to the students and then I considered the curriculum. This year, I want to turn my focus to the curriculum first and the students second. I don't mean that I will neglect the needs of the students, but instead, I want to get excited about the curriculum more than the students. In that way I won't be as disappointed since I know what to expect from the curriculum, whereas on any given day, what I get from the students varies immensely. We'll see how that will go. If I find it not working, then I will turn my priorities back around.

Today's Headlines:

Porn Star and Pastor Go Head-to-Head (Redandblack.com)

OK, my opinion is not at all relevant here. So what I am going to comment on is not the porn industry but the pastor. If we read the news closely enough, and sometimes not all that closely, we will see the hypocritical nature of some of the men of the cloth. How often do we hear about church and evangelical leaders preaching against something and then we find out that they are doing it themselves? You know, things like alcohol, gambling, pedophilia, prostitution. I will not be surprised if this pastor is soon found out to be addicted to porn and own an extensive library in his closet. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if were told that he distributed porn to young boys in his congregation.

Revelers Paint Spanish Town Red in Giant Tomato Fight (USA Today)

When was the last time that you were actually allowed to throw food at someone? Every time I have heard of a food fight, someone always got into some sort of trouble. But not today in Bunol, Spain. The annual tradition of a food fight had the city in the grips of an all out tomato war! Sounds like fun to me. I may need to get my passport for next years battle.